D'Arcy adds the late sparkle as Ireland's front row finally fires

By Brendan Gallagher

November 29, 2010 — 7.33am

Dublin may have been a sparkling winter wonderland on Sunday but this was a dull old game that did little to lift the spirits of those 30,000 souls who braved heavy snow and Arctic conditions to reach the Aviva Stadium. Worse still, Brian O'Driscoll came off 10 minutes from time and headed straight for hospital with a broken jaw, never the easiest of injuries to offer a prognosis for recovery.

The scoreline pleased coach Declan Kidney to some extent but the 20-point margin was more than they deserved. A classy late try by Gordon D'Arcy helped greatly in that respect, as did a rare off day with the boot from Felipe Contepomi, who, in extremis chasing the game, also ignored a couple of simple chances in front of the posts late on.

Gordon D'Arcy's try for Ireland flattered the hosts.Credit:AP

The big Ireland plus on a low-key day was that, after a torrid opening 10 minutes, their front row suddenly gelled and started slugging it out toe to toe with their illustrious opponents. That was very encouraging as Ireland have needed to bolster their scrummaging for some time and you could see Cian Healy, Sean Cronin and Tony Buckley grow in confidence as Sunday's game evolved.

Elsewhere, however, this win was a microcosm of Ireland's November campaign in general. There were promising touches of quality and continuity but, with the exception of that brave effort against New Zealand, very little out of the ordinary and nothing akin to a full 80-minute display.

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Argentina's Vergallo Nicolas, right, clears the ball from the ruck.Credit:AP

It started horribly with the Pumas beasting Ireland at a succession of early scrums on the Irish line. A penalty try surely beckoned when referee Mark Lawrence, having watched the retreating Ireland scrum implode as it hurtled out of control in front of him, ludicrously ordered an Ireland put-in on the grounds that the scrum had swung through 90 degrees.

Argentina were rightly incensed and became distracted. From that moment onwards the picture changed dramatically - the Pumas' tight forwards could not rediscover their previous dominance while Ireland's were suddenly much more forceful.

Much encouraged by that, Jonny Sexton started to get the scoreboard ticking over for Ireland with the first of four well-struck first-half penalties and Stephen Ferris burst over following good approach work by Ireland's player of the autumn, Jamie Heaslip.

At 19-3 up at the break Ireland looked in reasonable shape but went right off the boil after the half-time interval in a worrying fashion that would have been much more severely punished by better sides than this current Argentina outfit who are in transition and, without the injured Juan Martin Hernandez, lack anything approaching a Plan B.

Argentina's Santiago Guzman (top) tries to catch the ball during a lineout.Credit:AFP

Contepomi pegged back a couple of penalties but in the final two minutes Ireland belatedly roused themselves again and ventured into the Pumas half. Replacement Keith Earls should have been awarded a touchdown but the television match official ruled otherwise. No matter, just 30 seconds later D'Arcy collected his own chip, the single moment from this game that will live in the memory, along with the reviving hot toddies served afterwards.